Natural compounds and extracts as novel antimicrobial agents

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Antimicrobial resistance is a worldwide problem accounting for the reduction or in some cases absence of drugs effectiveness normally used in infections treatment. In the light of the even more spread ability of microbials to develop resistance, there is an urgent necessity to find novel and alternative routes to fight infections. Natural compounds or extracts can be a valid alternative either as monotherapy or as adjuvant in order to improve the effectiveness of the failing drugs.

Areas covered: This review provides a comprehensive update (2018–2020) on the development state of innovative antimicrobial agents based on natural compounds and extracts, also describing their compositions, methods of production and use, mechanism of action, along with anti-microbial data when available.

Expert opinion: Owing to the pivotal role that natural compounds often cover in the finding of novel drugs, their in-depth analysis could pave the way to the discovery of new antimicrobial agents. Most of the alternative approaches reported in this short review were validated through in vitro and in vivo (animal as well as human) models. The employment of natural derived compounds and extracts, alone or in combination with classical antimicrobial drugs, as antimicrobial agents could represent an important achievement to challenge pathogens resistant mechanisms.

KEYWORDS:

• Natural compounds
• extracts
• essential oils
• antimicrobial activity
• biofilm inhibitors

Article highlights

• Novel natural compounds and plant extracts useful for antimicrobial treatment.

• In vitro and in vivo models corroborated the effectiveness of these compositions.

• Plant extracts and natural compounds can be used as biofilm disruptors and Quorum Sensing inhibitors

• Plant extracts, new peptides and endophytes along with relative by-products emerged as important options in the development of novel antimicrobial drugs.

• This box summarizes key points contained in the article.

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.